NAIROBI, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Thursday thanked the Chinese government for the continued financial and technical support to Kenya's development agenda, particularly flagship projects key to attainment of Vision 2030.

President Kibaki said Kenya appreciates the massive assistance in development and rehabilitation of infrastructure projects the Chinese government extended to Kenyans which have had significant impact on the country's socioeconomic development.

Kibaki was speaking in Nairobi during a meeting with China's Ambassador to Kenya Liu Guangyuan who paid him a courtesy call on Thursday. "Besides rehabilitation of Nairobi-Thika highway, widening of the Uhuru Highway-UNEP road and construction of Eastern and Northern By-passes in Nairobi among other infrastructure projects, Kibaki said the Chinese government has also increased education scholarships and established exchange programs between universities in the two countries," said a statement issued after the meeting.

President Kibaki stated that both countries are exploring ways of enhancing trade and investment through value addition and capacity building to address the existing trade imbalance to further nurture the cordial relationship and broaden the scope of cooperation between Kenya and China.

The president said the East African nation cherishes the milestone made in the history of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which has been strengthened over the years since inception.

He said the forum offered Kenya the opportunity to broaden the scope of her cooperation with China under the long term guidance for the growth of China-Africa cooperation.

The principals set out by FOCAC provide long term guidance for the growth of relations between China and African continent, particularly Kenya, the President said.

He further thanked China for donating more than 20 million U.S. dollars worth of food to the needy Kenyans.